Chapter Seven
Chapter Seven
Jackie had only made it a few steps before Micah appeared right in front of her. He pulled her into his arms and kissed her breathless as if they had been separated for days instead of mere minutes.
Since Kami had been leaning against her, she cursed at him when she stumbled a little. Thankfully, Devon caught her before she fell on her ass. “Damn it, Micah! Watch it!”
He chuckled. “Sorry, little sister. I want to dance with my mate.”
“But she’s supposed to find me hot males!”
Micah shot Jackie a glare. “You what?”
“Nothing. Nothing at all. You guys go dance. We’ll take care of this,” Devon said, slapping her hand over Kami’s mouth as she and Sapphire dragged her away.
“Explain.”
The annoyance in Micah’s voice, and the spark of jealousy in his bold blue eyes made her want to smile. Even though there was complete trust between them, they were fiercely possessive of one another. To appease him, Jackie wrapped her arms around his neck and brushed her lips against his.
Even after years of being mated, he still had the ability to steal her breath whenever she got close to him. The love that had bloomed between them when they had first met had only grown over time. Every day she loved him more than the last, and she knew that would continue for as long as she lived.
“You are thinking pretty thoughts to distract me,” he murmured against her lips.
Pulling back, she smiled at him. “Kami wants Sapphire to send hot males to teach the Magical Combat class next semester because she’s sad we are all leaving.”
Micah huffed out a laugh. “How exactly is that supposed to help?”
She shrugged. “I have no idea. As a distraction?”
“Can’t she just paint more? Or maybe she can get a different hobby that won’t require me to beat some poor shifter’s ass if she ends up getting too close to one of them.”
She fought the urge to laugh at the irritation coming off of him in waves. He took his job as Kami’s brother-in-law very seriously, and he was extremely protective of her.
“She talks a good game, but she’s holding out for her mate,” Jackie assured. “Although, I still think she’s a little young for that right now—”
“Isn’t she the same age you were when we met?”
Her chin lifted. “I was a year older.”
“Oh, a whole year?” he teased.
He looked devastatingly handsome in a black button-down shirt, jeans, and new black and white slip-on shoes she’d added to his closet a few weeks ago. While his aesthetics might have remained basic, the quality of his clothes had improved since they had been mated because she was pretty much in charge of his wardrobe.
The crowd of partygoers screamed and cheered as Starslide began playing their first song. It was a fast, upbeat number, but Jackie rested her head on her mate’s shoulder and slowly began swaying with him. He rubbed his hands up and down her back with soothing strokes.
Switching to their private bond, he spoke directly into her mind. “What’s wrong? I can feel that something is bothering you.”
“I’m not sure exactly,” she admitted. “I just have a weird feeling about the ceremony next week. And Kami told me not to trust our parents…again.”
He kissed her forehead. “She’s been saying that a lot lately.”
“I know, which is weird. She already knows I don’t trust them, so why does she keep reminding me?”
Micah tried not to say too much about the King and Queen of the Winter Palace. His mate already knew he disliked them. No, dislike was too tame a word for it. He fucking loathed them, but they were still her parents. He would tolerate them as long as she did. Otherwise, they could die horrible, painful deaths for all he cared.
Back when he and Jackie had first been mated, he’d gone ballistic when he’d found out how she had suffered at their hands. He was aware of everything they had ever done to her and her siblings through their mating bond, and he’d made a private vow that he’d do whatever it took to end their reign of terror.
Even if it meant spilling their blood.
Like his own brutal upbringing, they had called what they had done training and discipline. It didn’t matter what euphemism they decided to use, it was still fucking abuse to him.
From locking her in her room with no food for days, to make her comply to some petty request or demand, to lashes with a whip. Then, there was the ice needle torture. Used as a punishment for severe offenses, they’d inserted ice needles into her that caused immense pain as they traveled through her body until they finally melted. The most insidious part of that particular torture method was that no one knew where or when the next wave of agony would strike.
Besides the physical torment, her parents had also used emotional blackmail against her time and time again. They appealed to her sense of duty and used their familial bond to bend her will. His mate had tried to do what was best for their kingdom, even if it meant suffering through their lessons. She had also tried to protect her brother and sister from their parents as much as she could, but she hadn’t always succeeded.
She had been trained to endure whatever came her way without showing emotion. They had claimed that it would help her become a strong ruler, but he thought that was just a bunch of bullshit. They did it to control her, and for a while, it had worked.
Being mated to him had changed that.
There was no way he could ever tolerate her pain and suffering, not when he could stop it. In fact, he would happily raze worlds to ash if it meant keeping her from harm.
He vividly recalled the first time she had taken him to the palace to meet her parents. She had warned him that they wouldn’t be happy that he wasn’t fae, but she hadn’t been prepared for the stark fear on their faces when they realized exactly who he was.
He, on the other hand, had been delighted by their reaction.
If they didn’t like him, so fucking what? He and Jackie were mates, determined by fate and bonded by love. Nothing and no one would ever come between them. No matter how much her parents might have wished they could change that, it was impossible and they knew it.
While they had tried to disguise their misgivings about him as concerns regarding his lack of fae knowledge, he knew it was because he was a dark angel-metal mage hybrid. The metal mage side they could have accepted, but the dark angel part of him made them nervous as hell. That, and the fact he was related to Braxton and Lucifer.
That had terrified them.
He hadn’t bothered trying to hide his lineage or his abilities. Why would he when it helped get his point across? And that point had been that he would retaliate, swiftly and brutally, if they ever hurt his mate again.
He’d also made it clear that he considered her siblings his family as well. While he didn’t know the full extent of their own personal experiences with their parents, he could guess it well enough. It was still strange to him how Jackie, Cris, and Kami had turned out to be so warm and loving when the king and queen were such cold, calculating assholes, but he knew families could be split like that sometimes.
Knowing exactly who and what her parents were had him feeling a little apprehensive about the upcoming ceremony as well. No matter what they had said, he didn’t believe that they would just give up all that power and hand the kingdom over to him and Jackie now that they were both done with school.
Not when they fucking hated him.
When he and Jackie completed the ceremony that declared them the new rulers, they would be given access to the Winter Kingdom’s magical source. That would make them more powerful than anyone else in the kingdom. There was also the issue of him not being a fae. So far, there had never been a ruler or consort who wasn’t fae, so they weren’t quite sure what the power boost would do to him.
He was willing to take that risk, but he was pretty damn sure there was a select group of fae who would do anything to stop that from happening. That group included Jackie’s two uncles and a few other relatives. The problem with that was Micah and Jackie would wipe the floor with them if it ever came down to a fight, so they wouldn’t be able to legitimately challenge them for the right to rule.
No one could.
“I don’t think your parents are going to give us the throne,” he said honestly.
“I don’t see how they can get away with changing their minds now, though. The handover has already been announced. The invitations for the ball have been sent out, and everyone in the kingdom knows the ceremony is happening. It’s pretty much just a formality at this point.”
“Unless they’ve decided to kill me at the party,” he said, only half joking.
She was quiet for a moment, then she spoke softly. “Then, they would have to kill me as well, because I would damn the kingdom to save you.”
Love for her filled him to bursting. “Princess, I would destroy the whole fucking realm to keep you safe.”
She thumped her fist against his chest playfully. “You always have to be a little extra.”
He chuckled in response and held her hand against his chest, directly over where her mating mark was etched into his skin.
“With all of our friends at the ceremony as backup, I don’t see how anyone could touch us. We have actual freaking gods on our side.”
“Doesn’t matter. You don’t eat or drink anything at the party,” he ordered. “And no matter what, we don’t separate. We stay together until the ceremony is over.”
She lifted her head to look at him. “You think they will try to poison us?”
“It would certainly delay the handover.”
Jackie realized he had a point. Delaying the power transfer would give them more time to come up with a plan to deal with them. There was still a small part of her that wanted to deny her parents would do something so hideous to her, but she knew that she was just kidding herself.
“I won’t eat or drink anything,” she promised. “But if they want to remain in power, why don’t they just—”
“Jackie! Micah!”
They turned in unison to see Ramsey Tyr stomping toward them, dragging a reluctant Jillian Swift behind him. The human female looked like she would have loved to strangle the prince, but her expression changed to wry amusement as she met Jackie’s gaze. Jilli stopped trying to break free of the hold he had on her wrist and just rolled her big gray eyes to indicate that she thought he was acting ridiculous.
A new arrival at Aegis Academy, Jilli was a young mage who was a powerful soothsayer. Being able to foresee the future was an extremely rare talent, so she had been allowed into the academy a little early despite not yet meeting the age requirement for enrollment. Since she hadn’t gone through her awakening yet, they still weren’t sure about what other abilities she might possess. Still, her soothsayer ability was bound to grow as she came into her power, so that alone made her someone to keep watch over.
“We have to talk,” Ramsey said as he came to a stop. He had to raise his voice to be heard over the music, but still kept it low enough not to draw any attention from the people around them. “Jilli has something to tell you.”
Jackie glanced over at Micah, and without even making the request, he used his magic to create a sound barrier around the four of them so they could speak in private. As the music and the noise from the boisterous crowd was immediately cut off, it became eerily silent.
“That’s better,” Ramsey said, no longer having to raise his voice.
“You didn’t have to drag me over here. I said I was going to talk to them,” Jilli muttered.
“Well, tell them then.” Before she could speak again, Ramsey said, “Jilli just had one of her woo woo moments.”
“Woo woo?” Jilli glared at him. “What the fuck is that?”
Jackie shook her head and sighed. Sometimes the two of them were like oil and water. Trying to get them back to the subject at hand, she asked, “Jilli, did you have another dream?”
“No. That’s what is freaking me out a little. It wasn’t like the dreams I usually have. It was a flash of images that appeared while I was watching the concert just now. I wasn’t asleep, so I’m not sure if it was real, but—”
“You went pale and almost keeled over,” Ramsey snapped. “I’d say it was pretty fucking real.”
“You say that like it’s my fault,” Jilli shot back. “I didn’t ask for this!”
“I didn’t say you did,” he said through gritted teeth.
“Well, you’re fucking acting like it.”
Micah and Jackie shared a look as the other two kept bitching at one another. He held up a hand to stop their bickering. “Tell us what the flash was that had you rushing over here.”
“It was you,” Jilli blurted out, looking directly at Jackie. “You were bleeding as you were reaching out to pick up this jeweled crown, and I felt an overwhelming sense of fear and dread. I don’t know where it was, but it felt bad. Like really, really bad.”
Jackie glanced over at Micah, who immediately pulled her against him. The warmth of his body seemed to seep into her, and it helped calm her.
“It has to be the ceremony,” Jackie said. “It does require a small blood sacrifice, but that is with an ancient relic made of magical ice, not a crown. Jilli, are you sure you saw a crown?”
“I’m sure of that. But maybe the flash isn’t a glimpse of the actual future like my dreams are. I mean, I’ve never felt a wave of such strong emotions like this before, so perhaps the flashes are different.” Jilli worried her lower lip with her teeth. “I’m sorry I can’t tell you more. It wasn’t very clear.”
Jackie reached out and rubbed her friend’s arm. “Whatever it means, it is a warning that we need to heed. And you’ve given us this extra time to figure it out. So, thank you. This sounds more metaphorical or like an impression than an actual foretelling of the future. It’s not hard to figure out the crown represents the throne.”
Micah nodded. “It sounds like someone is definitely going to try to interfere with the ceremony. So, we just have to figure out how to stop them.”
Ramsey nodded. “Contingencies?”
“Contingencies,” Micah repeated.
“What does that mean?” Jilli asked, glancing between them.
“It means Micah, Brax, and I have a lot of experience surviving a variety of tricks and traps,” Ramsey explained. “So, if someone is planning to disrupt the ceremony, we’ll figure out a way to stop them.”
There was no other option.
Movement outside of their privacy bubble drew their attention, and Micah groaned when he turned to see Sapphire and her mate, Raiden, escorting his parents over to them. Ariel and Brody were wearing a matching set of long, flowing blue and silver robes, and the formal attire made them stick out amongst the mass of casually dressed shifters and modern clothing.
Micah immediately removed the protection barrier and hurried over to them. “Mom. Dad. What are you guys doing here? Is everything okay?”
“This is your graduation party, isn’t it?” Ariel asked, blinking at him innocently. “Obviously, we’re here to celebrate with you, sweetie. We are so proud of you.” She hurried forward and wrapped her arms around his waist.
Shit, now there was no way he could ask them to leave without feeling like a total asshole.
“Thanks, Mom. But—
“We brought presents for the graduates and—Jackie!” Ariel practically shoved Micah away from her and hurried over to his mate. “Hello, my beautiful daughter!”
Jackie laughed as she returned Ariel’s hard hug. “Hi, Mom.”
Every time Micah saw his mate with his parents, he felt a sense of deep pride and satisfaction. From the moment he had introduced them, his mother and father had welcomed her into their family with open arms. They gave her the love and affection she’d never gotten from her own parents, and he knew they would always stand by her no matter what happened.
“And I made brownies for everyone,” Brody announced with a wide grin.
Micah barely held back a groan. “You didn’t put weed in them, did you?”
“Nope.”
He relaxed a little. That was good. While human drugs normally didn’t work on supernaturals, magically enhanced versions did. His relief was short-lived since two shifters suddenly fell to the ground laughing hysterically while another started rubbing himself against a tree.
“I put magical catnip and fairy dust in them instead.”
Micah slapped his hand over his eyes. “For fuck’s sake, Dad.”
“Did your dad just drug my shifters?” Raiden asked incredulously as two more shifters began rolling around on the ground.
“Only a little,” Brody said cheerfully. “Don’t worry. It will only last for about half an hour with no lingering effects.”
Raiden shot Micah a glare that told him he was clearly not amused. Sapphire wrapped her arms around her mate, probably to stop him from shifting into a dragon and burning them all alive.
“Now, this is what I call a party!” a loud voice boomed out over the music.
This time, Micah did groan. “Mom, please tell me you didn’t bring Uncle Luc with you.”
“Of course, not. He brought himself.”
“Now the King of Hell is here in the Shifter Realm?” Raiden growled. “Fucking hell!”
“He is just here to celebrate with us,” Sapphire said, trying not to laugh.
While they were distracted, Micah grabbed his own mate’s hand and hurried away from the angry shifter god. “Let’s get the fuck out of here before he explodes or something.” When Jackie laughed, he glanced over at her. “You find this amusing, mate?”
“I do. It is a party, after all.”
Shaking his head, he gave in and laughed with her. Conspiracies for the throne could wait, because now, it was time to celebrate.